Maura Higgins Trades the 'Love Island USA' Villa for the 2026 Cannes Film Festival Red Carpet
I "tink" she's a red carpet regular in the making.
On May 8, Maura Higgins told Vulture she's leaving the Love Island USA villa for greener pastures—or should I say red carpets. Days later, the former Aftersun host started a new, Love Island-less chapter with her Cannes Film Festival debut on May 12. I tink she's well on her way to being a serious Hollywood star, don't you?
Nothing says "I made it" like attending the 2026 Cannes Film Festival four months after the Season 4 finale of The Traitors aired and slingshotted Higgins to It-girl status. If you weren't familiar with her reality TV run, you might assume she's a fixture of Cannes fashion. Stylist Kris Fe helped Higgins look familiar with the glitz and glamour of the French Riviera in a strapless black gown accented by a thick white band along the neckline. The design hailed from New York City designer Andrew Kwon.
Maura Higgins left the Love Island villa behind for her Cannes Film Festival debut.
Since the film festival is following the naked dress ban again this summer, not a single feature was see-through. Even Higgins's black, carpet-grazing coat appeared opaque from top-to-bottom. But it didn't have to be naked (or even nearly naked) to start conversations on the carpet. Her dress's train extended a full five-feet behind her on the Cannes Film Festival's famous staircase.
For finishing touches, Higgins side-parted her Old Hollywood-inspired bob, popped on diamond stud earrings, and flaunted her back tattoo, which shined in lieu of a statement necklace.
A moment for Higgins's entire Cannes Film Festival gown, from neckline to train.
Higgins has come a long way from the custom-built villa located in the Mamanuca Islands of Fiji. Still, she's not leaving that era of her life in the dust. "I’ve done it for three years, and they’ll always be family to me, but I think it’s time to try something different," she told Vulture. "I’ve got amazing opportunities coming in the door. I think it’s time to say good-bye." By "amazing opportunities," Higgins means Dancing With the Stars, her first acting gig in an Irish comedy called The Spin, and most recently, an invite to Cannes.
Higgins's back tattoo stole the show in lieu of a necklace.
Higgins isn't taking her Cannes RSVP lightly. She channeled red carpet regulars like Zendaya, Selena Gomez, Demi Moore, Tracee Ellis Ross, and more in the black-and-white color trend. Perhaps the two-tone gown was her way of saying, "I did my fashion research." She told Vulture Zendaya is "even more fabulous in person," suggesting she studies her step-and-repeats. (Who doesn't?)
Higgins's followers knew that the moment she arrived in the South of France, though. Earlier on Tuesday, she joined the Cannes street style circuit in a vintage, circa-1990 skirt set from Thierry Mugler. Her introduction to French Riviera fashion seemed to take cues from Bella Hadid, Amal Clooney, Kate Moss, and Margot Robbie, all of whom have made the Cannes Film Festival an archival admirer's Met Gala.
